Chronicles of the Sage Siblings
by I.K.A. Valian
Summary: Come read the story about Genis and Raine Sage. Read about what they did while Genis was stuck on Earth and Raine was emo. Read the chapter of the Tales of Symphonia: Dark Tidings that was never written... until now.
1. Day One

"I do not own Tales of Symphonia!" – I.K.A. Valian

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_**!!Important A/N!!: **_Many people may have been wondering what exactly I cut out from Dark Tidings. There are several holes in the story, most prominently among them is the span of time that stretches between the moment Genis and Gaar left Sylvarant for Earth and the point at which they return. Well, luckily for you, I intend to reveal those events now. Also, let it be known that I cut this out because it would have made the story too complicated to follow at that time, and I wanted to improve my skill with the pen before I ventured into what is now its own story. 

And No, you don't have to have read Dark Tidings before this to understand the story, though I won't complain if you do. I'll make this story as new reader friendly as possible. Ahh… you've probably skipped reading all of this by now. On with the story.

* * *

"Gaar. We're lost!" Genis stopped and threw his hands into the air. "How many times are we going to lose our way walking through this stupid town?" His voice echoed off of the tall stone walls on either side of the alley and then into the distance where the sound died off. Once more the night air surrounding the boys was still and too quiet. 

"Shh!" Gaar put his finger to his mouth. "Do you want someone to hear us?" Gaar quickly glanced behind them into the dark and dirty alley they were leaving behind. Ahead of them was a similar dark and dirty alley that looked exactly like the one behind them. They had entered the small stone built town hours earlier. Only now they knew it was a mistake to have done so. "I don't want to experience that again, if you don't mind."

"Yeah, yeah," Genis mumbled in reply. He rubbed his shoulder uncomfortably, wincing as he did so. His blue outfit had numerous scuffmarks and tears running through it. On both boys faces, arms, and legs were many bruises and a quite a few cuts. "How was I supposed to know that would happen? Humans are so stupid!" Gaar shot Genis a worried look. "Oh, not you Gaar, just the ones that did this to us. I mean, they didn't even let us explain."

Gaar nodded knowingly. "I know, they could of at least let us explain before they started beating us with stick and chasing us with swords." They both winced at the memory. A small pebble fell in the distance behind them, causing both of them to whirl around wide eyed, knees bent, and prepared to run again. They both let out huge sighs of relief when they see it was only a pretty black kitten playing with the pebble that made the noise.

Genis started to pace back and forth, his left hand behind his back and his right hand supporting his chin. His eyes shone with intense concentration. "I know this place wasn't built to be a maze. That much is obvious from the fact that we haven't come across anything that's tried to trick us outright. It's just that this place was built so badly that any decently minded person would become lost in here. Almost none of this construction makes any sense. And I know we've been by this point before because I swear I've seen that mold formation twice already." Genis stopped staring at the mold on the wall and looked skyward. The stars twinkled and shined in far different configurations than he'd ever seen.

"Don't worry Genis, I'm sure we'll find away out of here. If nothing else, we'll just blow a hole in the wall and-"

"Gaar, won't that attract even more attention to us?"

"Oh yeah…" Gaar's head sank. Genis sighed and rubbed his tender shoulder again.

"Gaar?" Gaar looked up at Genis curiously.

"Yeah Genis?" Genis sat down and leaned against the wall. He picked up a pebble and threw it at the opposite wall as Gaar sat down next to him. Genis sighed again and looked back up at the stars.

"Do you think the others are okay?" Gaar looked at Genis for a few seconds before he too looked up at the stars.

"I'm sure they're fine." Gaar's voice was calm and collected. Startled, Genis turned his head to look at Gaar curiously.

"How can you be so sure? I mean, we were in the middle of a Desian Ranch, completely outnumbered, and not to mention that we'd split up from two of the stronger members of our group. How can you be so sure that everyone's okay?" Gaar grinned and closed his eyes. Genis pouted. "Come on Gaar. How can you-"

"I'm sure they're fine, Genis. Your sister isn't that weak and neither is Colette. Besides, you took all those Desians out with that spell… What was it again… ahhh… I can't remember." Genis, scowling from being interrupted, thought for a moment.

"You know, I can't remember either. And I guess you're right. You k now, you're kind of like Lloyd." Gaar turned to Genis and attempted to raise his eyebrow curiously, but failed.

"How do you mean?" Genis shrugged and then yawned.

"I just meant that you both are positive thinkers, even if you both don't think very much." Gaar nodded looking back at the sky, thinking about what Genis said until what he actually meant sunk in.

"Hey!" Gaar punched a chuckling and snorting Genis in the arm lightly. This of course sent pain shooting through the young elf's arm. The reaction he had to this stimulus was to scream. This loud outburst set a chain of dogs barking, which alerted the pitchfork-waving, torch-bearing villagers. The boys were up and running before the first villager even saw their footprints in the dirty alley.

* * *

"Oof!" Lloyd landed with a thump. His impact with the ground sent dirt, grass, and two swords flying into the air. Raine sighed and, brushing her sleeves and brown coat off, walked past the upside down boy. 

"Lloyd, I'm not going to say it again, I'm leaving and there isn't anything you can do about it."

"But Professor Raine, you can't leave." This time, it was Colette standing in front of the door with her arms outstretched. "We need you to help us complete the Journey of Regeneration. We can't do it without you. I'm sure _he_ would have wanted you to stay too."

Raine paled for less than a second before she shook her head and pushed past Colette and out of the inn. Underneath her breath she said, "I'm sorry Colette. It hurts too much." Walking out into the rainy weather might not have been the smartest of things to do, but Raine had other things on her mind. Despite the weather, Asgard was crawling with a mixture of former Ranch captives, tourists, and town residents.

After a half hour, she'd made her way out of the town and was quickly walking down the road that led to the House of Salvation in the middle of the Asgard Plains. The sun was high in the sky now, its rays only interrupted by the occasional cloud.

After confronting and violently tearing apart any monster that crossed her path, Raine finally arrived at the House of Salvation. Intending to just pass through, she was walking past the other side of the wooden structure when a woman inside screamed.

Hair standing on end, staff I hand, and adrenalin rushing, Raine turned and sprinted toward the doors. Before she could grasp the door handles, they burst open and out poured three brigands, each brandishing a mighty iron sword in both hands and a burlap sack slung over one shoulder.

Raine stopped short in front of the three men, each surprised as the next at the sudden confrontation. Then the forward most brigand dropped his sack, which the other all quickly did as well, and started moving forward.

"Hey honey," said the leader. He held his right sword out toward her staff. "Why don't you put that down? I'd hate to have to resort to violence against such a…" he breathed in deeply and then looked at her as if he were appraising a piece of meat. "…pretty face."

Raine, her eyes harder than steel and sharper than a diamond edge, gripped her staff tighter and swung it behind her back into a horizontal position. She held out her other hand and made a "come, fight me" gesture. This served to enrage the brigands. They all raised their swords high and charged.

Raine gave a small smirk before she spun around, grabbed her staff with both hands, and used her momentum to sweep her staff in a circle just inches above the ground. This knocked all three of the brigands off their feet. In a final graceful move, Raine spun once more in the same spot while standing up and ended up in the same position she started in.

"I suggest you leave here before I feel the sadistic need to shred something to pieces again. You may notice the grotesquely mutilated corpses on your way out. I just couldn't stop myself once those monsters made clear that they wouldn't leave me alone." Raine stopped herself and glared at the three downed men in front of her. They stared back in shivering horror. "Well? You leaving?"

The brigands all scrambled to get out of the vicinity as fast as they could, running like the devil himself were poking them in the behind with his red hot pitchfork. Raine 'hmphed', picked up the three burlap sacks, and walked calmly into the House of Salvation as if nothing had happened.

Inside, she was confronted by a grisly scene. Blood pooled beneath the aged pastor on the floor in front of the Spiritua statue. A woman in a frilly white dress sat next to the pastor, rocking back and forth, hands clasped together, praying. Another pastor, this one much younger, sat on the other side of the dying old man, talking to him in hushed tones.

Raine looked over the scene and nodded to her self. She deposited the bags on the floor and walked forward, staff in hand. The woman and younger pastor looked at her, their faces streak marked with countless tears. Raine, sighing internally, stretched her glowing staff in front of her and started murmuring to her self. After several seconds, the green glow surrounding her staff grew bright.

"Heal!" Raine commanded, and the green Mana flowed from the staff into the old man. It flowed around him, penetrated his wound, but other than that, nothing happened. His wound didn't close and the blood didn't stop. Both the man and woman's faces fell at the same time. The woman started sobbing more, and the man became even more still and quiet. Solemn.

Raine frowned and tried again. This time, she concentrated and focused until the green mana surrounding her staff was glowing so bright that the other two had to turn away and shield their eyes. Sweat formed on her forehead and quickly gathered into a large drop. This drop joined other drops of similar size on her shaking, rigid body, and fell to the quickly reddening floor beneath.

Raine opened her eyes, which almost glowed with a surreal white behind them, and shouted, "C…C… CURE!" Everything in the room slowed to a crawl, almost as if time had stopped. And then, as if everything realized it was being left behind, events moved fast forward. The green Mana surrounding Raine's staff exploded. Most of the Mana was absorbed by the old priest's body, his wound healed, but a scab and scar was still visible, and he was still unconscious. The rest of the Mana shook the building with such force that all the windows blew out and everything on the walls fell off.

The younger priest looked down and saw the healed wound. He leaned down quickly, excitedly and listened for the elder man's breathing. Upon hearing said man's breathing, his euphoria erupted throughout his being. He jumped up and down shouting, "He's alive! He's alive!"

The woman too, started laughing and smiling. But when they turned to thank the white haired elf who helped the old man with healing magic, the found her lying in a pool of the old man's blood mixed with her sweat. Her hair was matted and damp with sweat, her bangs plastered to her forehead. And she was unconscious.

* * *

Well, I hope that was a good start. 

**Pit**: "We'll see."

I'm going to try to keep it in this format, with half Genis and half Raine.

**Pit**: "We'll see."

**Inri**: "Oh would you stop that."

Pit: "We'll see."

**Inri**: _Growls and slaps Pit upside the head with a frying pan._

**Pit**: "Ow. Why'd you do that, now my head's gonna get lumpy."

**Inri**: _Tossing the frying pan up and down in one hand menacingly._ "We'll see."

**Pit**: _Gulps loudly._

Okay, enough of that. Please review.

Thanks for reading.


	2. Day Two

"I do not own Tales of Symphonia!" – I.K.A. Valian

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The day was chill. An odd occurrence during the summer months. Nonetheless the winds were as cold as the latter half of November. The chain wearing sentries at the gates to the village could see their breath as they muttered to each other about bad food, wenches, and of course the weather. The tanned leather jerkins covered their chain mail was wrinkled and stained at random intervals, denoting a history of drinking and merriment the night previous.

"I loath these lands," said the first sentry, "Twas supposed to be bathed in warmth and sunlight, yet only grey skies and cold zephyrs greet us."

"I agree," the second sentry said while rubbing his arms and shivering. "Lord Philippe could grant us warm coats. Lest we freeze to death. No chance of that happening, eh?" His companion nodded and started rubbing his own arms. "What you think's happening to this place?"

"I don't quite know, even if tis not how twas to be. Right, I'm off to check the perimeter," said the sentry, "I shall return shortly." The other nodded and watched shivering as his fellow sentry picked up his polearm and walked off into the morning mist.

The gate of the village was really an over glorified stone arch built into the side of the three foot thick wall. The barbarians from the north had been ravaging the lands for quite a while now and the only way to stop their raids upon innocent farmers and merchants was to pull together behind walls of stone. It was these stone walls that had frustrated Genis' and Gaar's attempts to escape all night.

The two in question rounded a corner inside of the walled off village just as the sentry turned and faced forward. They skidded to a halt and then leaped to hide behind a wooden barrel fifteen feet away from the sentry , who had decided to sit down on another barrel was also holding the large, heavy, thick wooden gate open.

"Now what?" asked Genis. "How are we going to get past that guard?"

Gaar looked around, taking in his surroundings before he shrugged. "I guess we'll just have to make a run for it. I really don't want to wait around here for another chance to get out. This place is almost as bad as the Iselia Ranch."

Genis looked behind him at the messy morning village scene. There were dieing fires lying about, dirty clothes strew across the ground, horse droppings mixing with the drinking water. "I would disagree with you Gaar, but I think we should get out of here first. This place really is a pig sty."

The two boys took a deep breath and bolted. They ran, feet squelching in the mud, toward the gate. The sentry who was sitting on the barrel turned to see what was making such a noise this early in the morning. At first he didn't do anything, because there were always children running about the village. Then he realized, because of Genis' hair and ears mostly, that these were the barbarians who'd infiltrated the village the night before.

The sentry immediately stood up and grabbed the hilt of his sword. "Stop! Stop I say!" When Genis and Gaar didn't stop, but instead ran right past him, he unsheathed his sword and chased after them into the fog. "I tell you to cease running. You shan't get away."

After running for several hundred yards down the well beaten dirt road, the sentry saw the forms of the two boys materialize out of the fog. He came to a sudden stop behind them when he burst from the fog like a flying fish from water. The skies were as clear as any sky had ever been, not a cloud was in sight, not a single meteorological disturbance could be seen for miles, except for the chilled fog surrounding the village.

However, what had stopped them wasn't the change in scenery but the army of wild men, monster, creature, demons, and armored behemoths grouped together in front of them. The army was milling about as they broke down their camp. Some were preparing their weapons, others were suiting up in armor, still others were running about, and yet more were now running toward the three newcomers with weapons or fists bared and ready to pounce.

"W-w-w-what is this?" stammered the sentry. He was shaking and started backing up. "I-I-I-I must r-r-r-report this immediately." The sentry turned and ran back to the walled in village faster than he'd chased after the two boys. He lost his sword as he ran when he flung his arm too far away from his body and the torque pulled the weapon from his hand. Too spooked to go back for it, he continued back to the village.

"Oh no, what should we do!" Genis started backing up and was about to turn and run when Gaar put a hand on his shoulder. Genis stopped and gave Gaar a look that asked, 'are you crazy, let's get out of here!'

"Genis, these people are here to destroy that village."

"Yeah. That's terrible and all, but what can we do about it?"

"We can stop them." Genis gawked at Gaar as he looked about real quick and then ran to pick up the dropped sentry's sword. "We have to help them Genis."

"But Gaar, we don't even know those people. And it wasn't as if they were very hospitable to us. I think we should let them be destroyed."

"Genis!" Gaar shot Genis a look before he turned and watched the incoming barbarians.

"Gaar, I'm serious, the people in that village wanted to kill us. Why should we help them?" Genis sighed, pulled out his kendama, and whacked a tall, bald, axe wielding man upside the head, knocking him out cold. He flew several feet backwards through the air and came down in a big puddle of mud. Genis stared incredulously for a few seconds before he smirked and thumbed his nose at the downed barbarian. "Not that it would be that hard to beat these guys, they're pushovers."

"Genis, they only tried to kill us because they were scared of us. Don't you remember through all their babbling that we couldn't understand they called us 'barbarians' the most? They must have thought we were part of this army or something."

Genis, though he didn't like this situation any better, considered that possibility as he went about whacking another barbarian in the head with his kendama. Then he let loose a cry of "Fireball," and sent a volley of infernous balls toward a barbarian that had knocked Gaar down and was about to smash his head with a morning star.

"And besides," Gaar said, standing up, "it doesn't feel right letting all those people face this kind of threat alone when we could have done something to help. That," Gaar stopped and looked around in a great circle, "and I just noticed that this place is completely surrounded."

Genis stopped pounding the stuffing out of the last barbarian, who was already unconscious, and looked around. The barbarian he'd stopped hounding on slumped to the ground with a dull thud. Genis noted with some distaste how the entire village was indeed surrounded.

"Fine," he resigned in defeat. "I'll help fight this army, but you have to help me by keeping them at bay while I cast, alright. I can't cast if I can't concentrate." Gaar grinned happily and gave Genis a thumb up.

"Thanks Genis. You won't regret it."

Genis snorted and rolled his eyes. "Yeah right. Let's go, I want to get this over with." Gaar nodded and followed Genis as he walked toward the barbarian encampment.

The barbarian army was the strongest army the land had seen in hundreds of years. That very morning, they were 40,000 strong. The village they surrounded didn't even have any mounted knights. They had everything from siege engines, lesser demons, hell hounds, all the way up to the barbarian's most fierce warriors, the Berserkers. All of them were battle hardened warriors from the frigid northern lands, proud and strong. And then the strange boy in blue and his companion appeared out of the fog.

What followed was the most massive ownage in the armies five year history of pillaging. Every time a group of warriors attempted to rush the small boy, his companion held them off long enough for the other to unleash massive and powerful spells upon them, taking scores of men out at a time. It took nearly all day but finally, the barbarian army was down to roughly 200 men.

All of the siege engines were destroyed, some by fire, some by ice, and some by the very air itself. Genis and Gaar stood on a hill waiting for the last 200 to make their move. Gaar was out of breath, as was Genis. Gaar had in that day become very adept at blocking attacks and slowing the oncoming warriors down, while Genis had learned a few new spells after using the same one's over and over again.

Finally, the barbarians charged, all 200 of them at once. Gaar moved forward and prepared to block the first attackers when he fell down. Breathing hard, he looked up at Genis and shook his head.

"I can't do it," he said between breaths, "I'm too tired."

"That's alright Gaar, I've got this one, been saving it for last." Genis closed his eyes and focused. He started mumbling to himself and instead of a ring of runes appearing at his feet, an enormous rune appeared beneath the battle field. All the barbarians had seen his magic before and didn't stop. Had they known what was coming, they would have been running the other way. Genis opened his eyes and shouted, "Check this out, Fire Bomb!"

The ground immediately started to shake and all of the barbarians fell to the ground. Then, as if the Earth itself was disgusted, the ground exploded upwards in a fiery maelstrom of destruction and death. The fire formed a rotating plume that reached into the sky for miles. After several minutes, the fire spun itself out and the spell ended.

"Wow, I meant to cast Explosion. But that was better!" Genis fell to the ground next to Gaar, both boys completely exhausted. The villagers, who watched the entire thing from behind the relative safety of their walls, erupted in cheering. From about midday, the fog had lifted, giving the residents of the village an uninterrupted view of the surrounding country side, the enormous army, and the twelve year old duo tearing a 40,000 strong army a new one. The shouts of joy and happiness were so intense that Gaar and Genis had to cover their ears to protect them from the sheer volume of the elation. "Gaar…"

"Yes Genis?"

"I don't think I'm ever going to do that again."

"Yeah… me either." Both boys rested their weary bodies where they fell. The village gates opened and soldiers armed to the teeth ran out. They checked the barbarian army and made sure it was indeed defeated. Then as an afterthought and under Lord Philippe's orders, they picked up Genis and Gaar and brought them to the castle.

Genis was the first one to wake up the next morning. He was surprised to find that he wasn't wearing his old blue clothes. Over the night, the maids of the Lord's Manner had painstakingly washed, cleaned, and dressed up the two boys in clean and very confining clothing.

"What the heck am I wearing?" Genis walked to the mirror and was looking over his new outfit when Gaar fell out of the bed. Genis ran his hands over the light blue vest and the frilly white undershirt. Then he played with the tassels that were sewn onto the shoulders. He watched Gaar rubbing his head with a smirk on his face as he unconsciously readjusted the tight white pants.

"Oww. Hey, what happened to my clothes?" Gaar stood up and started looking himself over. He was wearing a white vest over a white dress shirt tucked into white long pants. He looked over at Genis and had to hold back his laughter. "Okay, I'm bad, but you're worse."

"Yeah," Genis agreed, "but at least I still don't look as bad as Lloyd." Gaar looked thoughtful for a moment before he nodded in agreement. Genis reached behind him and grabbed his silver ponytail. "I've never thought of doing that before. It doesn't look that bad."

Both boys turned to the door when it suddenly opened. In walked several older women dressed in black gowns. They moved through the room silently picking up disheveled bed sheets and pillows then putting them back into their proper place. Then a man wearing a gray robe entered the room and bowed.

"Good day to you. My name is Siegfried, my Lord Philippe's servant. The Lord Philippe has requested your presence in the throne room and I have been instructed to take you there. Please, follow me." The man was old, at least he looked old with his grayed out hair. And his long mustache didn't help his look either. All together, he looked like a tired old man on the last leg of his life.

Genis and Gaar looked at each other and shrugged. They followed Siegfried out the door, an expensive oak door, leaving the servants behind to clean up the room. The hallway they traveled down was floored by a beautiful, expensive red carpet. The walls were covered from floor to ceiling with expensive portraits of different people. Every so many feet at set intervals, there was a stand with a potted plant or some other expensive ornament sitting on top of it. The walls behind all of that were lined with what looked like gold paint. It was, however, actual strips of gold attached to the wall.

Genis couldn't find one thing to stare at. The opulence was just so evenly spread that he couldn't decide what to gawk at first. Gaar however wasn't looking at his surroundings at all. He was staring seriously at the lush red carpet.

Siegfried led them to the end of the hall, where he opened a door, also framed in gold, and led the boys into another long, opulently dressed hallway. At the end of that hallway the walls opened up into a grand staircase that went down for two stories. At the bottom, Siegfried turned and led the boys up the central hallway to two massive doors. They were closed. With a nod from Siegfried however, the two guards on either side of the door, tapped their polearms on the floor and opened the humungous doors.

The large doors opened into a large room. The room was for all intents and purposes, a throne room. It held the regal air about it. The thrones themselves were made of bronze and gold with cloth hung about them. The walls were covered with banners bearing the symbol of the Lord of the castle. The floor was covered in a vast carpet. Hanging behind the two thrones was a large tapestry with the image of a country side embroidered upon it.

The man sitting in the throne was very fat. His robes were stretched almost to the limit. His wife next to him didn't look much better. They both looked squeezed into their thrones and it was apparent that they had to be helped out. Aside from the apparent royalty, they were alone in the spacious throne room. Gaar and Genis both stared at the two monarchs for several seconds before they were forced to bow by the two guards that had followed them.

Gaar leaned over to Genis and whispered, "Next time I try to stop you from leaving someplace to certain doom, hurt me… bad."

Genis nodded slowly, stood up, and whispered back, "I'll kick you where the sun don't shine or something." The guards then bowed down to the floor on either side of Genis and Gaar. Siegfried had slipped out of the room quietly when the two boys were knocked to the floor.

"Hail Saviors! You have saved our Kingdom of Lorraine. Name your prize and if it is within my power, you shall have it." Genis and Gaar looked at each other, contemplating what they could ask for. Then they shrugged and looked back at the fattened monarchs.

"I would like to know where we are," Genis said. "We aren't from around here and we would like to get back to where we came from. If at all possible, I'd like to have a look at any maps you might have so that we could get a bearing of our location and perhaps find our way home."

"Indeed," said the King. "Such mighty warriors. Twould be a crime if your own kingdom did not warrant your return. Tell me, fierce warriors, which kingdom do ye hail from?"

Again, Genis and Gaar turned to look at each other. This time Gaar responded to the King.

"We… ah, err, hail from the Kingdom of Sylvarant."

"Verily. I've yet to hear of such a Kingdom. Twould be a distant Kingdom to be sure. How would it be that two of her finest warriors would find themselves such a distance from fair Sylvarant?"

"We were in the middle of a fierce battle," said Genis, "with ah… criminal called Kvar. He murdered many of our people and had holed himself up in a castle."

"Castle, good one," Gaar said under his breath so that only Genis could hear. Genis snorted before he went on.

"During the battle, a spell was cast and we were sent from the castle and ended up here. As our, err… kingdom is in great need of her warriors, we would appreciate a, ah… speedy send off." Genis sighed as he finished speaking. It seemed to take a lot out of him to overlay his normal speech with the awkward nuances of this kingdom's language.

"Very well. When you leave here, you shall be escorted to our map room, where scholars from around the lands have gathered to create a map of as many lands as man has traveled. Is that all you wish to request? Surely you wish something more than thus." Genis was shaking his head no when Gaar held a hand out toward Genis and stopped him.

"Actually your majesty, there is something." Genis looked at Gaar strangely, but he ignored the look and went on anyway. "I noticed that you live in a very nice house. This place has all the amenities that any person could want. So I ask why your people live in such dreary conditions. Surly it is not the work of the barbarians alone. Could you not do something to alleviate your people's troubles?"

The look Gaar was getting from the King had gone from curious to darkly brooding. "Young man," he rumbled, "I'll not have another kingdom's peasants telling me how to run my kingdom. Guards!" The two guards snapped to attention next to Gaar and Genis. "Escort these two to the map room and forthwith to the city gate. Be sure to see them out of the city and allow them nary a chance of reentry."

"Yes Milord." The guards both snapped simultaneously. They grabbed Genis and Gaar by the arms and moved them out of the throne room. Gaar was scowling as he wrenched his arm from the guards grasp and continued walking. The group turned right at the stairs and entered another hallway, this one made of cold, gray limestone.

"Nice one Gaar. Now he thinks we're a couple of peasants, whatever those are." Gaar was about to respond when the soldier next to Genis whacked him upside the head, much like Raine might have done. The guard however wasn't equipped with an Exsphere and hurt his hand on Genis' head. However Genis got the message and scowled anyway, glaring up at the soldier.

"I'll not have you speaking Ill of Lord Philippe. Come now, the Map Room is just through this door." The two soldiers opened a door the lead into a large room. On one wall, covering the entire thing from floor to ceiling and corner to corner was a humongous map. On the map was a detailed drawing of the lands surrounding the kingdom of Lorraine, all of which formed a large continent. After staring at the map for several minutes with their jaws hanging open the two soldiers grabbed Gaar and Genis and lifted them up.

The soldiers carried the two boys to the gate and then tossed them onto the ground. They left instructions with the guards at the gate to not let them back into the village before they turned and marched back to the castle. Genis and Gaar stood up slowly, dusting themselves off.

"Gaar, I have some good news and some bad news." Gaar turned to Genis curiously. "First, we got out of there alive and they only took my kendama."

Gaar cocked an eyebrow in confusion. "They took your kendama and that's good news?"

"Yes, because the bad news is that we are not on Sylvarant anymore. In fact, I've never seen that map before in my entire life. None of it made any sense or was familiar in the least."

Gaar thought on this for a few seconds before the reality of what that meant sunk in. "You mean we're not in our own world anymore?" Genis nodded and then started walking with his hands behind his head, playing with his new pony tail. Gaar trailed after him slowly. "But then how do we get back. There has to be a way."

"I don't know Gaar. I wish Raine were here, she was always better at figuring out things like this than I ever was." Gaar looked at Genis before he shook his head and laughed. "What's so funny?"

"If Raine were here, she'd be trying to figure out who you are and what you did to the real Genis. You look ridiculous."

"Ha, like you look much better Gaar. Come on, I saw a few places on that map that I wanted to check out." Gaar nodded. "Hey, did you notice how they called that a kingdom, a city even. There couldn't have been more people living there than in Triet."

Gaar shrugged in response as the two boys walked off into the distance, leaving behind the castle of Lorraine. Unfortunately, they didn't seem notice the man wearing a dark cape slinking after them, following from a distance in the shadows of the tree line.

At about mid day, they stopped to eat wild berries from a bush that was growing along the side of the road. Again, they didn't seem notice the cloaked man following them. After about an hour of eating berries the boys stopped. The berries had made them sick to their stomach. That reminded Genis of his sisters' cooking and a batch of cookies she once made. Somehow though, they kept their lunch down and continued on their way down the road into the night.

The boys were curled up around a camp fire Genis had created with the help of a little fire magic. As they slept, the cloaked man crept onto the scene. He was moving toward Genis when he stepped on a dry twig. The ensuing chaos was enough to wake up the dead as Genis jumped up and shouted, "Lightning!"

A bolt of white hot lighting exploded on the scene, striking right next to the man who'd crept into their camp. The man leaped nearly five feet into the air and when he came back down he immediately prostrated himself on the ground. Gaar snored obnoxiously loud and rolled over causing Genis to stare at him which immediately conjured an image of Lloyd. Shaking his head, Genis turned back to the matter at hand, grinning triumphantly at the man on the ground.

"Hehe, I knew someone was following us. So who are you and why are you following us?" Upon hearing someone striking up a conversation, Gaar suddenly sat up and gasped groggily.

"Wha- What's going on!" Genis just waved him off and waited patiently for the quivering man on the ground to speak.

Finally, the man did speak, though it wasn't exactly what either of the boys expected to hear. "I have come to report, my lord Thor. I have slit the throat of the spy sent to follow you back to Asgard. Please, Lord Thor, have mercy on your loyal subject. I have done nothing but honorable deeds my life. Please grant me passage to Valhalla so that I might serve with you in Ragnarok." Genis looked at Gaar. Gaar looked at Genis. Then both broke into laughter and couldn't stop until the man started crying because he thought that they'd looked unfavorably upon him. Though they couldn't help chuckling every now and again after that.

* * *

"Professor Raine!"

The lights playing on the back of her eyelids slowly receded when she heard her name called out. She'd really wanted to get away from that group. As providence or circumstance would have it though, she'd been forced back in, like an unruly puzzle piece that was made to fit into the bigger picture.

"Professor Raine, please get up. We're going to Lake Umacy today. There is supposed be a unicorn there. A real live unicorn professor!"

Raine sighed exasperatedly. Colette always was very chipper in the morning. Calking it up to divine intervention, Raine sat up and stretched. After being found in the House of Salvation by the group, they'd refused to let her travel on her own. And she'd found it too difficult to escape with Kratos watching after her. His excuse was that he was carrying out the will of the Chosen.

"Professor, is it true that Unicorn horns have really strong healing powers?"

Raine looked up at Lloyd, who'd just dumped a bowl of sand on the camp fire, snuffing its remaining embers out. Where had he learned that? Most certainly not her, as he never paid attention to her lessons. The boy had a knack for slacking off at learning. And yet, he excelled ahead of the others in a select few subjects. Subjects that were not often of the class room, but of life in general. But she knew where he'd learned this particular bit of information.

"I suppose Kratos also told you that it might be able to recover my waning healing magic. Don't get your hopes up. I suspect nothing will be able to help in that matter." Raine stood up and stretched again. "Sorry to say it Lloyd, but I don't plan on retrieving powers that don't want to be used. If they want to be lost, so be it." Colette looked particularly perturbed by Raine's response, stopping in the middle of rolling up her sleeping sheets.

"Professor, how can you say that? Your healing powers are very important. I think you should find a way to get them back. I don't think anything would not want to be found because it would be very lonely by itself." Raine sighed. Arguing with Colette when she was like this was like yelling into the wind, in which case everything you could say would be thrown back at you as a reason for rather than against.

Raine picked up her now almost useless staff and fit it into its holster across her back. It really didn't have any purpose other than walking stick now that she'd lost her ability to heal. Though, she'd found that she could beat things to death pretty effectively with it. She found particular joy in punting hapless small creature into the distance as well.

It was about noon when they arrived at the Lake's shores. The sun was shining brightly overhead with a few clouds dispersed across the wide blue sky. Coming to a stop on the shore of the lake, the group looked into its crystal clear depths and much to their amazement found the remains of a Unicorn trapped under the water. It appeared to be dead or at the very least in some form of suspended animation.

"Suspended animation Professor?"

"Suspended animation is where some form of living being is put into a type of deep sleep that preserves their age and health from the exact moment they went into the sleep. Similar to hibernation."

"Oh." Lloyd was actually interested in learning for once. That simple thought bewildered Raine to no end, and eventually she put it from her mind. "I wish Genis were here, then maybe he could do something with his magic and we'd be able to meet him."

"That would be impossible for you and me, Lloyd. I would assume only Colette would be able to make the journey." Lloyd turned to Kratos with a heated expression on his face, but Kratos headed him off and said, "Don't you remember. Only pure maidens are able to even approach a unicorn."

"Oh yeah… but what about the Professor?" Lloyd turned to Raine, but she held up her hand.

"Sorry, but no."

"That leaves it up to me then," Colette said bravely, stepping forward.

"H-hey, what about me?" Everyone turned to Sheena. "Are you saying I'm not qualified?"

Lloyd and Colette looked at each other curiously before turning back to Sheena and saying at the same time, "Qualified?"

Sheena winced and said, "You both don't have to say it once."

"Okay then. Sheena and I will go-"

"Hold it." Colette turned to Raine. "You're forgetting one very important thing. We have no way of getting you two out to the unicorn, so even if we decide who goes, it'll be pointless unless you can get out there. As Lloyd already stated, Genis isn't here anymore, so there is no way for us to control the water Mana. Aside from a magic user only a summoner would be able to control the amount of Mana that would be required to reach the unicorn. And before any of you point out either myself or Kratos as a possible magic user, I seem to have lost my casting abilities and Kratos isn't anywhere near strong enough."

"Correct," Kratos said. "It would be useless and a waste of time to pursue this any further. Unless anyone has something else to say on the matter, we should put this behind us and continue on the Journey of Regeneration."

"Actually, there might be a way."

"What?" Raine exclaimed.

"What do you mean Sheena?" Colette watched the purple wearing mercenary closely.

"I-It's like Raine said. We could summon Undine to control the Water Mana," Sheena explained. "Undine should exist somewhere in this world."

After a moment's silence Lloyd raised his hand and asked, "Undine, you mean the Summon Spirit?" Sheena nodded. "Then if we get Undine to control the Mana, you and Colette would be able to go see the unicorn, right?" Sheena nodded again. "So then let's go see Undine." Lloyd started to walk off, but then stopped and turned around. "Where's Undine supposed to be again."

"Undine should be at the Seal of Water," Sheena offered.

"The Seal of Water is the next seal we are going to release," Raine said, "but first I would like to know who is going to get Undine to do what we want. Only a summoner would be able to carry out such a feat and those arts have been lost for a very long time."

"Well it still exists. I… I haven't formed a pact yet, but if I can form a pact, then… I can summon." Sheena stood under the scrutinization of the others for a few moments. "Anyway, if you're not interested, I'm not going to force you-"

"No," interrupted Lloyd, "we need the Unicorn Horn. Please do it, Sheena."

Sheena gave a cautious smile. "A… alright. Then let's go to the Seal of Water. After we release the seal we can form the pact with Undine."

"Alright, let's do it!" Colette shouted. "To the Seal of Water!"

The three teenagers scampered off, leaving Raine and Kratos alone. Raine was staring at the lake, mesmerized by its rhythmic lapping waves. Kratos had his arms crossed and was deep in thought.

"This is quite the detour," Kratos said after a while. Then he walked off, following his errant ward.

After another bout of silence and listening to the water, Raine said, "Genis, am I doing the right thing?" She closed her eyes and slowly turned from the lake. Her lips trembled with the effort to hold back her emotions. As she walked away from the lake on nearly numb legs, she roughly wiped a tear from her cheek.

That night, they rested in the ruins of Luin. It was mostly just burned wood and cracked stone now, as scavengers and thieves came after the city fell to alleviate the town of its more valuable remains. Luckily for the group, it was the perfect place to stop because no monsters dared to enter the town, either out of fear of crossing the long wooden bridges of questionable integrity or the fact that the town still smelled heavily of death.

Colette was kneeling in front of the broken fountain, which was still leaking water, praying. The others had already gone to sleep, except for Kratos. He was on watch again, though he was on the other side of the camp site, sitting next to Noishe on the broken bridge. They'd set up in front of the remains of the inn.

"Goddess Martel, please look out for my friends. Ensure them a happy, long life and keep them safe after I become a true angel. And please give our regards to Genis. Especially from Professor Raine. She really misses her brother. Thank you."

* * *

Wow, it's been a while since I've written on this story. Well, here I am.

**Pit**: "It's about feaking time. Where the heck have you been?"

**Inri**: "I hope you havn't forgotten about us. It would lead to certain kinds of disaster if you did."

No I haven't forgotten you.

**Pit**: _Wipes the sweat from his forehead and breathes a sigh of relief. _"Whew, that's good."

**Inri**: "It's good to be wanted, but now the readers will probably be wanting to know what's going on with this story."

Oh right, well, I'm not giving that away. But the readers can review and tell me what they want to know.

**Inri**: "Yes, yes they can. So readers out there. Please please review. Then I can torture Pit here."

**Pit**: "Yeah, review so she... can... torture me! What?" _Starts backing away slowly and shaking his head._ "No no no no no, no torture Pit."

Actually, yes, please review. I like reviews, as any other author will say. And on a final note, I hope you enjoyed the story thus far. Thanks for reading.


	3. Day Three

"I do not own Tales of Symphonia!" – I.K.A. Valian

* * *

The man leading them wasn't walking like a normal person. He loped in a long stride that might have been caused by an old battle wound. Genis shook his head, unable to fathom why anyone would send a person as ungainly as this guy to assassinate anyone. When he glanced to his right to check on Gaar, he wasn't surprised to see a creased brow and a focused attention on the path to keep from tripping.

Walking. All day they'd been walking, hiking, and any other form of the movement Genis could think of. Ever since that man prostrated himself in front of them claiming they were emissaries of the gods nothing had been the same. Every step they took hurt from the sores they must have had. But they didn't stop. They couldn't. Every time the two boys tried, their strange guide would panic and start prostrating again, blithering on and on about demons and spirits. So they relented each time with a shrug and kept going.

And now, their eyes were sliding shut of their own volition, their legs felt like lead, their throats were dry, and they had to use all their concentration to keep from tripping over the more obvious of roots. It was a boring day. Aside from their walking, nothing happened. Scratch that, something did happen. The wind blew fiercely through the trees on more than one occasion. That was the only thing exciting that happened.

The forest felt endless, after walking through it an entire day. With no end in sight and the sun long since gone, the two boys gave up on resting ever and just stopped. They looked at each other, knowing what the other felt, and sat on the ground at the bottom of a leaf covered hill. Their guide loped back toward them with his strange gait and prostrated again.

"Masters, please, the place I bring you is very close. Please, we must hurry. With the sun in its resting home, we must make haste. The demons are out tonight." Genis and Gaar looked lazily at each other before the let their heads hang low and sighed. "Please," begged the man shrilly, "I swear it is not far. Please, let us leave this place."

"This place better have a bed," said Genis. "We're going to need one after walking all day long without any breaks or food." Gaar tried nodding, but being so tired, he ended up rolling his head around in circles and making himself slightly nauseous.

The man stood up and bowed continuously in the direction of the two boys. They got up and stumbled after their guide. The man led them onward for another twenty minutes before he stopped. There was nothing in sight that could be called an inn or a tent with a bed, so Genis was about to raise his voice and complain when the man bolted, waving them on furiously.

The boys thought this was strange, like every other act they'd seen him carry out. But this time, the two felt fractures of fear radiate down their spines. There was often a reason for paranoia. Either the man was indeed crazy or there really were demons.

Seeing that the man was getting farther and farther away, running as if his life depended on running as fast as he possibly could, Genis and Gaar started moving themselves. The looked around, trying to peer into the dark depths of the forest, and began moving faster. By the time they'd heard the snapping of sticks and rustling of leaves, the two boys were wide eyed in fear and running as fast as they physically could; considering Genis' Exsphere enhanced abilities, he was running faster than Gaar.

In moments they both burst out of the forest in a flurry of leaves. They skidded to a halt as a literal army of men swung their spears and swords to face them. Genis stepped forward.

"Uh, hey, we followed some guy here. He kept calling us messengers for the gods…"

"Erk!" shouted one of the taller men in the back. "Get your bed wetting arse out here!" The man with the funny gait appeared out of nowhere to stand at attention next to the tall man who'd called for him. "These them?" The tall man pointed at Genis and Gaar with a gauntleted right hand. When Erk nodded and scampered off once more, the leader nodded and signaled to his men. Genis and Gaar let out relieved sighs and began moving forward. They froze mid stride when the soldiers all brought their weapons back into place.

"Genis!" Genis turned at Gaar's shocked outcry and saw him being clutched tightly by a tall, dark skinned, creature that was definitely not human. Before anyone could do anything, the demon shrieked and jumped in the forest. Genis made to run after the creature, but was grabbed from behind by one of the soldiers.

"Let me go," he shouted, fighting the soldiers' grip by twisting left and right. "I've got to go after him!" The vision of more demons' jumping out of the forest and engaging the soldiers was the last thing Genis saw before everything went black; the last thing Genis felt was the cold metal haft of the soldier's spear.

* * *

The peaceful setting, composed of wind swayed trees, fluttering fields of grass, and migrating wildlife, wasn't upset by the five people running by. Sheena's pink Obi twisted and twirled in her wake. Lloyd's ribbons and Kratos' cape flapped and fluttered as a streamer. Colette's hair swished and swayed as she kept pace with the older and stronger of her escort. Raine's staff bobbed up and down behind her as she ran.

The Desian armor that their pursuers wore clinked and clanged, reflected the waning sun at odd angles, and slowed the entire group down enough to let the Chosen's group gain a lead. They were being followed and whipped along by a commander that exclaimed "Lord Yggdrasill will have your hides if you don't capture them!" every time his soldiers slowed down. When their commander finished screaming, the men, filled to the brim with wide-eyed fear, surged forward.

"This is pointless," shouted Kratos. He twirled his sword in his right hand impatiently. "We should stop and fight Chosen!"

"We are all drained," shouted Raine. "Do you really think that we can keep fighting them in this condition?" The ex-healer dodged a tree branch as their group entered a small forest. "We tried to fight them when they attacked us in camp this morning and you were the one who ordered the retreat!"

"It was because we were unprepared for their attack." Kratos quickly glanced left and right. "Under the circumstances I saw no alternative. However, the circumstances have changed."

"Yeah," laughed Lloyd, nearly out of breath, "before we were sleeping; now we're completely out of breath." The only one's who weren't, Lloyd noted to his chagrin, were Kratos and Colette. He idly wondered, as he jumped over a low lying root, if her transformation into an angel had anything to do with it.

The forest, unlike the open field, stopped the air flow of the wind, trapping moisture and heat. When the group burst from the tree line, it was to their relief that the wind picked back up and whipped along with them. They ran up and over a hill covered in tall, wind whipped grass. They didn't want to stop, in fact, it was with a groan that they did. A large river was in their way. And there was no way to safely cross it, except for Colette.

"How are we going to get across?" Lloyd didn't see Colette come up behind him with her wings extended. She grabbed him tightly and the two lifted into the air. In a few minutes, Lloyd was on the other side, wiping mud off his face. Colette jumped into flight and started back across the river.

When Raine and Sheena stood shivering and wet next to Lloyd, and Colette was about to go back, Lloyd realized that something was wrong. "Hey… Where did Kratos go?"

"I thought he was right behind us." Colette floated up into the sky and tried to find him, but when she came back down, she was shaking her head. Then the group of Desians caught their attention as they came up to the river side.

"Weren't there more of them?" Sheena asked after a few seconds of point-counting. "There used to be about thirty of them. Now there's only fifteen."

"You mean they're missing a third?" Raine smacked Lloyd in the back of the head.

"Half, Lloyd. They're down by half their numbers." Raine put her staff away and started walking. "I think Kratos will catch up to us. Let's go before they find a way to cross the river."

"But Professor…"

"The Professor's right," said Lloyd, putting a hand on Colette's shoulder. "Besides, Kratos isn't some weakling that could be brought down by measly Desians, he'd kick their butts."

"Yeah," the Chosen agreed with a nod. "You're right. Let's go Lloyd."

The group left, going over the hill that banked the riverside. They glanced one last time at the Desians and their frustrated commander when his men failed to cross the river. They were going down the other side of the hill when Kratos appeared suddenly. He was walking calmly up and cleaned his sword on the grass as he moved.

"K-Kratos!" Lloyd stopped and pointed at the older man accusingly. "What happened to you? One minute you were behind us, complaining about running and the next, you were just gone."

"Hmph," Kratos sheathed his sword. "I knew that there was a river here and assumed you'd find a way across. However, I also knew there was a bridge further down the river that the Desians could easily cross. So I slowed down and took another path that led to where the bridge used to be."

"Used to be?" Kratos walked past the group and ignored Sheena's question.

"I do not think standing here and idly chatting will slow them down if they cross the river. We should continue on to Izoold, Chosen." Kratos kept walking calmly, not caring for or objecting to the looks of incredulity his receding back was receiving.

"Did you see the blood on his sword?" Lloyd asked. Everyone nodded slowly. When Kratos was beginning to fade into the distance, they all ran after the mercenary.

It was late that night when they arrived in Izoold. Their faces were covered with dirt rivulets. Their clothes were stained with blood splotches and layered with dirt that fell off in clouds with ever step they took. It was with delirious joy that they fell into the warm embrace of the beds they'd sleepily rented from the Inn. Even Colette was having trouble staying awake, she kept stumbling into different objects and the apologizing; such was the current case with the potted plant.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Plant. I didn't mean to knock you over. Please forgive me. Please, I am so sorry-"

"Colette!" The teenager slowly turned her head and gazed half lidded at her teacher. "Please, stop apologizing to the plant."

"I'm sorry, Professor."

"Tch… Just, go to sleep Colette."

"… Okay Professor. I'm so-" Raine clamped a hand over the blond teenager's mouth and shushed her. Colette mumbled 'I'm sorry' through Raine's hand and fell unceremoniously onto the bed behind her. Raine sighed and looked from Colette to Lloyd sleeping loudly on the next bed over.

Kratos walked by the window just as Raine fell onto her own bed, out like a light. He knew that the others were completely exhausted from their run, even the Chosen. So as he unsheathed his sword and strode toward the open fields, he swore to put this crazed Desian's chase to an end. All fifteen of the Desians were waiting for him when he walked calmly out into the field.

"What was the meaning of today?" Kratos used his century honed intimidating stare on each of the half-elf Desians in turn. Finally, he came to the commander, who was tapping his fingers on his arm and sneering at Kratos.

"The intention was to kill the Chosen," said the commander. "We nearly succeeded, until you decided to kill half my men and destroy the bridge. Tell me, Lord Kratos, what is it exactly that you were doing? Isn't it your job, as one of the Four Seraphim, to execute our Lord's wishes?"

"I'll not have a lowly Desian rank half-elf defining my duties," snapped Kratos. "I've been assigned to assure this chosen accomplishes her journey and reaches the Tower of Salvation. If that means destroying all the Desians on Sylvarant, then I will personally cut each and every one of your throats."

"We are the loyal servants of Lord Yggdrasill!" The commander motioned toward his men. "You wouldn't dare harm us!"

Kratos started at the commander. His face shifted subtly, something he'd picked up after many years of training. But that wasn't what the commander and his men noticed, it was the look in the Seraphim's eyes. His pupils expanded and the vibe he gave off went straight through hatred and directly into murderous. His intent to kill was so powerful that, though Kratos hadn't moved an inch, the fifteen Desians nonetheless started backing up and doubling over in fear of this one man.

Sheena had just grabbed the handle of the Inn when she heard the crunching grass sound of methodical footsteps. She looked and saw Kratos walking into the town. He had a few spots of red on his purple outfit, which wasn't that suspicious considering the day they'd had. Sheena was still thrown off guard for a bit that Kratos was walking up to the Inn from the direction of the field they'd come from.

"Kratos?"

"I would have assumed you'd be in bed by now."

"I'll be fine," Sheena said. She let go of the door handle and faced Kratos. "But what about you? What were you doing out there? You could have been ambushed and killed by the Desians that are following us."

Kratos impatiently moved past Sheena and opened the door of the Inn. Before he went in though, he paused and said, "Those Desians will not bother us anymore." Kratos then went into the Inn, leaving the door standing open and Sheena with chills going up and down her spine.

* * *

Genis awoke with a start and pushed himself out of the cot he was sleeping on. His eyes quickly moved back and forth. He took in the leather tent that was pitched. The long draped animal skin separating him from what he assumed was the rest of the room. And the last thing he noticed, the thing that made him grow a little red was the fact that he was completely nude.

When Genis appeared in the doorway, sporting a cloth shirt and leather pants, he was confronted by the village. Children ran this way and that. Adults were hard at work. Soldiers were patrolling the dirt streets. And standing right in front of him was a red hair woman, bent in half with her arms extended, holding up a cloth that had his Kendama sitting on top of it.

"Hey," Genis exclaimed, "my Kendama."

"It was reported that Mjolnir was taken from you, little master. Your loyal servants have sacked the city that did so as revenge and now present your prized weapon back to you." Genis reached out and gently lifted the toy from the woman's hands. He looked at the weapon in his hands with a reverence that he wasn't sure it deserved.

"I was wonder," said the silver haired elf, "Where is Gaar?"

"If the little master speaks of the companion that you were traveling with, then I am sorry." The woman bowed even lower, almost sobbing. "We sacrificed many a sheep to your alters as recompense for his loss."

Genis put a hand on the woman's shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. The woman's eyes went wide and she backed up and prostrated on the ground. Genis sighed. Not the prostrating again. "What happened?" he asked.

"My Lord?"

"Don't call me Lord, or little master. Please. Just call me Genis. Now tell me, what happened to us last night? Who or what took my friend? Which way did they go?"

"Little master, please, I may not referr to you in any disrespectful way, lest I incur the All-father's wrath." Genis groaned. He rubbed his face and tried to clear his mind, but nothing that was happening was making sense. "Your companion was taken by the demons. Our warrior followed them at great cost until they arrived at the demon's camp. Our warriors were not strong enough and the demon's repelled them easily."

Genis looked down at the kendama in his hand and rolled it back and forth. "I have to go after him then."

"No, little master! You mustn't!" The woman pressed her self further into the ground. Her bright red hair splayed all around her head like a fan. "The god's would never allow us into Valhalla if you came to harm. Please, you mustn't go!"

"But I have to. I have to save Gaar. He and I don't belong in this world." Nothing Genis did or said would move the woman from his way. Eventually, Genis slumped his shoulders and sighed in defeat. "Fine. But take me to someone who can go after him."

"Yes, little master. This I can do for you. Please follow me to the Hall of Council." The woman rolled back on to her knees. With a slight heave, she was up and walking along the dirt road. Genis followed the girl as best he could, weaving in and out of the human traffic on the road. Eventually, the girl came to a stop in front of long hall made out of dead patch of grass.

Genis waited for the girl to keep going, but she wouldn't budge from the front of the building. She motioned for Genis to enter the long building. Inside, he found several men moving about. A long table sat in the center. At the head of the table was an old, husky man with a long beard. The entire tent fell silent upon Genis' entry.

Genis moved forward to stand in front of the table of men and looked at each of them. He clenched his fist and took a few deep breaths. Finally, Genis spoke. "I want to know what your plans are for dealing with these demons."

For several seconds nothing happened. Then all at once, every man in the large building burst out laughing. For minutes on end they laughed. They laughed till they cried and still they laughed. Finally, after being laughed at for nearly ten minutes, Genis growled and shouted, "Thunder Blade!" He pointed his Kendama at the ceiling and a ball of crackling lightning formed above the table. With a roar, the crackling power surged downward and impacted into the table. The men reared back in awe and fear when a sword formed in the electricity flow and slammed down into the pure oak table. The table snapped it in half like a piece of straw.

"I'm not playing around," said Genis. The men all faced him now. Some were clearly intimidated and others were glaring. The man in the back with the longest beard crossed his arms and nodded to several of the men in the room. All of the men sat back in their seats around the smoldering table.

"What did you have in mind, Bearer of Mjolnir?"

* * *

I hope you enjoyed this, Please review! 


	4. Day Four

"I do not own the Tales of Symphonia!" – I.K.A. Valian

* * *

Genis itched himself in several places as he walked. The wool outfit that he'd been given to wear, he'd asked for something warmer, had been tickling his skin all day. The day had started out great, with the entire army of the Norsemen mobilizing against the Demondim camp. Genis shook his head when he remembered the Norse King explaining it. 

"They're like the black fiends of chaos that great Odin beat back ages ago," he'd said. "Ugly and vile, with no love of human kind, they preyed upon us in our home land. We, the noble people, with the protection and the blessing from Odin's great hall, fought back. When the demons fled, we followed them. And today, we find in you our proof that our great Gods in Asgard have sided with us against this savage enemy."

Thus, Genis was now riding on a wagon being drawn by two horses. Not, he noticed with a smirk, the great war horses that the Norse warriors rode, but a variety that had been tamed for pack service. Still, regardless of their place in the war, the horses pulled his wagon with as much pride and strength of hoof as any other war horse present. A thin sheen of sweat had formed over the animals that quickly evaporated in the chill morning air. The quick evaporation caused the horses to look like they were smoldering.

It reminded Genis of when he watched the remains of a Fire Elemental crumbling into. Even in the depressing heat of the Fire Seal, the monster managed to give off smoke for a good few minutes as it blackened and burned internally until it was nothing but a wispy pile of ash.

Genis chuckled because he remembered Lloyd then kicking the pile of ash. Lloyd started to choke and cough because he kicked the ash into his own face. Raine was slapping him the whole time she healed him. When Genis' thoughts turned to his sister, his face fell and he let out a small sigh.

"Is something wrong, little master?" Genis looked up at the red haired woman who had refused to leave his side when he was getting into the wagon to go to battle. She'd said it was because she was duty bound to serve him until his mission here in Midgard was complete. Genis shook his head in response to her question.

"No, I was just remembering my older sister back home. I wonder if I'll ever see her again." The woman slumped her shoulders as well. Genis noticed this and looked out over the landscape as the wagon rose over a particularly large hill.

The plains were full of tall grass. Grass that was being trampled beneath the five thousand man army. If any animals were stupid enough to show their faces, they were immediately shot down to feed the army during the feast planed for the next day after the battle tonight. Such was happening now with an entire herd of deer.

"What's your name?" Genis couldn't believe he forgot to ask such a simple and curtious thing. Raine would have slapped him a hundred times by now. He was secretly happy that she wasn't here for that reason. The woman sat with both of her legs demurely extended toward the rear of the wagon. She faced Genis while leaning her back against the cloth wall. When Genis asked her question, she was lost for words.

"I'm sorry, little master," she said, bowing. "It was most rude of me. I am the priestess Alfrún. I hail far from the north of these lands, but war has called many of our people south."

"Alfrún, huh?" Alfrún nodded. Genis yawned and stretched as the morning sun began to fill the valley the armies passed through. "So who did you leave behind?" Genis didn't look directly at Alfrún, but he did look at her out of the side of his eye.

Alfrún bowed her head and took on a reserved demeanor. "I've a sister too," she said. "Her name is Esileif. She is my younger sister and tenth child of our father, Alfarinn, may he rest in Valhalla for Ragnarok. My father and brothers defended our home from the beasts when they attacked. Those savages took the lives of all but us two."

"My sister is the only one I have too." Alfrún looked shocked at the revelation. Genis went on. "I don't even remember my parents; we were both abandoned as children. She's been raising me ever since."

Alfrún sighed sadly and looked outside of the wagon. "Then, though we hail from different worlds, we are much alike, in a way." Genis nodded sagely.

The wagon, and the rest of the army, rode on for the rest of the day. They finally stopped when the sun was sinking below the horizon in the west and the air had gotten much colder. Snow slowly fell from the clouds above. It layered the ground in sheets of white, completely erasing the tracks horse hooves and the footprints of metal boots.

Genis was nervous though, when they'd stopped. This was the deciding hour. The men were milling about nervously as the time grew near. The horses hooked up to the wagon even sensed something was up, and were often seen skittering left and right at the slightest provocation. The army was now camped against a tall line of trees. On the other side was the Demondim camp. The time had come to make the last stand.

* * *

The boat trip across the ocean to Palmacosta was uneventful. Lloyd excitedly hopped off of Max's boat when they reached the big city, ready to explore the new place like a kid exploring a candy shop. Colette was right there next to him, only she had stepped off of the boat more gingerly. 

"I can't wait to explore this place!" Lloyd was running forward when his body was suddenly jerked back by his ribbons. He didn't fall, but he nearly did so.

"As excited as you are now, Lloyd, we all know that won't last." Raine let go of the white strips of cloth and dusted her hands off. "Let's all meet up at the bridge over there that leads to the rest of the city before we move on. That way we can stay together." Lloyd, though irritated by the sudden stop, nodded. He grabbed Colette's hand and dragged her away, visiting each vender and looking over their goods for several seconds before moving to another. Colette happily tagged along, 'ooh'ing and 'ahh'ing as they went.

"He sure has a lot of energy." Sheena glanced back at the boat and shuddered. She wasn't normally this seasick. Raine was doing the same, though she was always this seasick around water.

"It will dissipate quickly, as it always does." The two women glared enviously at Kratos. The entire time they had their heads thrown over the side, feeding the fish, he'd sat on the deck, solid as a rock, practically falling asleep. "It appears that there is a weapon shop located over there, as well as a customizer. We should look into upgrading our equipment as necessary." Kratos, oblivious to the looks that the girls were giving him, walked off toward the shiny, sharp objects.

Raine eventually made her way to the food shop, gathering the necessary materials for the meal they were going to make that night. When she was done with that, she headed toward the equipment shops. As she was looking over the weapons, she noticed a Kendama, a weaker one than what Genis had gotten in Luin. But the strength of the weapon didn't bother her as much as the fact that it was sitting there.

She reached out to grab the toy when a pair of small hands shot out and grabbed it. The owner of the hands started jumping up and down, begging, "Daddy, can I get it, can I get it! Please!!"

"Alright, sweetheart," responded the older man next to her as he paid the vender. "But you have to finish your homework before you can play with it, alright?"

"Yay!" screamed the girl, happily hopping up and down. She tried catching the ball on the toy's top, but it kept missing. Raine watched the pair walk off and wiped away the tear that slid down her cheek. Memories of Genis gurgled through her mind.

"Miss, you gonna buy something?" The memories were wiped away when the vendor tapped her on the shoulder. She turned and sputtered. "Uh… I… Uh…, Yes. I need to buy a weapon."

"Alright," said the vender slowly. He put his hands on his hips and motioned toward the array of weapons spread out before her. "Which one suits your fancy?"

Raine started picking through the large variety of weapons. She picked up a sword and considered its weight. A new staff found its way into her hands, but she put it back, knowing full well and harshly reminding herself that her healing abilities were gone for the most part. Finally, she grasped and lifted a large war hammer. Its bejeweled head appeared from underneath the pile of weapons and shone brightly in the sun. The moment that the vendor saw what she was holding, his eyes got so wide, Raine thought they were going to pop out of his head.

"Tha-that's… wha-wha-wha… n-n-n-no that's." The vendor was waving his hands around him, as if her were protecting himself from an assailant. Raine cocked an eyebrow in curiosity.

"How much?" she asked.

"It's a- It's a- It's a… yours, free. Take it free, all yours. I don't want anything for it. Just take it. It's all yours now. Bye bye. Now leave!" The vender crouched down, near the floor, disappearing from sight. Raine, still curious about the vender's behavior, leaned over the counter and saw the vender, a rather big and strapping man, curled up in a ball and sucking his thumb.

"Hey Professor," Lloyd called out as Raine walked up to the group. They were all standing on the bridge, preparing to head into the main part of town. "Did you find anything?"

"Actually, yes. Since I'm unable to use healing magic, I felt it would be prudent of me to find a way to pull my own in battle." Raine pulled out the hammer and showed it to everyone. She was most interested to see what Kratos would think. The tall man took the hammer from Raine's hands and looked it over with a critical eye. With a shrug, he tossed it back into Raine's hands and walked off.

Lloyd, on the other hand, was to keep going on and on about how cool it looked and how he wished he could have bought a hammer. Kratos of course shot that down by telling Lloyd he was too immature to handle anything other than his own swords. All of this distracted them from where they were walking.

When they were finally entering the main part of the city, Colette slammed into a woman while rounding the corner of a building. An object left the woman's hands and sailed a short distance through the air. It shattered and spilled its contents, a thick, oozing, pink substance, all over the cobble stone street.

"Owww!" whined the woman nasally, "what did you do that for?!"

Colette quickly stood up and started brushing the other woman off. "Oh, I'm sorry." While Colette was trying to clean the first woman off, another woman who walked up behind the first, screamed.

"Ahh! The Palma Potion we just received!" The gooey substance streamed through the cracks and crevices between the different rocks jutting out of the street. The liquid eventually found its way into the canal that ran between parts of the city.

A man walked up to Colette and grabbed her jacket roughly. Colette cheerfully smiled up at him. The man growled and said, "Hey lady, that was a very valuable potion! How are you planning on making up for this?"

Colette blinked once. Then she said, "I know, I'll buy you a replacement potion right away!" Colette wriggled in the larger man's grasp. Her attempts to get free angered the man, his face grew darker and darker red and his lips were trembling.

"A replacement potion?!" he shouted, finally. "Do you seriously think that's going to be enough to appease my anger?!"

"Oh, come on!" Lloyd reached out and wrenched Colette from the taller man's grasp. "Now you're just sounding like an idiot." Lloyd positioned himself in between the strange man and Colette.

"What… Did… You… Say?!" The man was trembling so badly and was so red in the face that he looked like a drunk clown holding an elephant. "Do you know who we are?!" he shouted in Lloyd's face. Lloyd slowly reached up with one hand and wiped the spit off. Then he moved his hand down to rest on the hilt of his sword.

"And I should care because?..." Lloyd slowly drew his blade one inch out of its sheath.

"Why you little-" The man raised his arms, preparing to throttle Lloyd.

"Stop!" It was the woman who'd screamed earlier. She put a hand on the man's shoulder and turned him around. Then she grabbed his scruffy beard and pulled the man's head down to her eye level. "I'd like to leave here as soon as we can. Don't start any unnecessary trouble."

"I agree," said the woman who'd run into Colette. "Let's just have them replace the potion."

The man grunted when the woman let go of his beard. He walked off to the back of his little group and threw his hand into the air arrogantly. "Bah. You got off lucky this time, kid. Hurry up and go buy that potion."

"There's no need to bother, Colette," Lloyd said. He let go of his sword hilt, but didn't let his hand drop too far away. The other man paused mid step when he heard Lloyd speak.

"No, I ran into them, so I have to pay for it." Colette marched off toward the rest of the city, leaving a flustered Lloyd in her wake. The others followed the chosen at a more leisurely pace, taking in the massive city as they went.

By time the caught up to Colette, they were standing in front of a shop called, "Marble's". Colette was looking depressed and Lloyd was patting her on the back and trying to cheer her up.

"It's okay Colette. We'll find a way to get that potion."

"What's wrong?" asked Sheena. She stopped in front of Colette and gave her a curious look.

"We don't have enough money to buy a Palma Potion," Lloyd explained. "And the only shop to have any left is closing for the rest of today."

"I see." Sheena held her elbow in one hand while resting her chin on the other.

"Chosen, there is more than one way to obtain a Palma Potion." Raine noticed the sign just as Kratos had said that.

"What do you mean, Mr. Kratos?" Kratos pointed to the sign and Colette turned to look.

"What does 'waitressing' mean?" Raine sighed. Lloyd would never learn anything at this rate.

"A waitress is someone who serves food at a restaurant. It's hard work." Lloyd 'ahh'ed after Raine explained and then Colette pumped her fists up and down.

"I'll become a waitress then," she said determinedly.

"Better hurry Colette," Sheen bent over and read the fine print more closely. "It says here that the offer ends tonight. There's only a few hours left."

"Right!" Colette rushed off, Sheena hot on her heals. Lloyd moved to follow her, but Kratos grabbed him by the shoulder and stopped him.

"Lloyd, I think it would be best if you didn't follow Colette." Lloyd shrugged off Kratos' hand.

"Why?" he asked stubbornly.

"Because you would only be a distraction to her, making her job that much more difficult. You only have to wait until she is finished." Lloyd thought it over and nodded.

"Yeah, your right. I don't want to get in Colette's way. What are you going to do then?" Kratos turned and started walking off.

"I will go train until the Chosen is finished." Before Kratos got too far away, Lloyd called out to him. Kratos stopped and waited.

"I… I want to train too." Lloyd ran up to Kratos. The older man turned to him with a serious look on his face.

"I could train you, if you wished." The older man, though he kept his emotions well guarded, seemed to be going out on a limb. Raine could tell that he was unsure how to treat this situation. Lloyd though was ecstatic.

"I need to get stronger so I can protect Colette. So yeah, would you train me?" Kratos nodded and the two walked off.

It was fleeting. The feeling only lasted a moment. But for one instant, Raine swore that both Kratos and Lloyd scratched themselves in exactly the same way at exactly the same time. Add to that the disturbing similarity between the two's looks. Raine shook her head and looked again. But they were too far away now to see clearly.

Raine decided that she needed some sleep and walked to the inn. She left word at the desk about her companions and then went to the room they'd given to her. She fell onto the bed, completely exhausted from the arduous boat ride, and immediately fell asleep. Raine unequipped her weapons and armor before she lay down. The war hammer pulsed with dark energy for a few seconds. The energy seemed to suck in the very light within the room. Then the dark energy disappeared, leaving a slight wisp of smoke.

* * *

The battle was fierce. The front lines of the battle hardened Norse warriors were holding, for the moment. They fought with sword, shield, tooth, and nail. They threw their rage upon the demons in front of them. This was the time to take revenge for the chaos thrust upon them. And they took great pride in their warrior's strength. 

Genis was standing impatiently on the hill, hopping from leg to leg. Alfrún forbade him from leaving that spot. To make sure he stayed, she tied herself to him. Genis would have used a fireball spell to burn the bindings, and nearly had, but Alfrún realized what he was doing and got in the way. Thus Genis was forced to stick to hopping back and forth while itching to get into the fight.

Genis didn't fool himself. He couldn't fight with a sword like Lloyd or Kratos could. But his spells were the most devastating things that he'd ever seen. More so than any blade Lloyd or Kratos wielded.

Clouds passed in front of the moon, creating shadows over the killing fields below. The loud roar of battle filled the small patch of fertile valley. Men screamed and fought. Demons shrieked and slew. It was a blood bath of the worst kind.

And Genis, hopping back and forth on the hill, knew that the demons were winning. They could use magic. Though the spells that they were using was like nothing he'd ever seen before. Huge walking giants made of fire. Water that burned like fire, yet was not fire. Missiles of rock that exploded into shards of ice.

That's when Alfrún surprised him. She extended her arm, almost proudly, and pointed at a group of hermit looking men, dressed in drab brown robes. To Genis, they moved and appeared like monks. The only difference was that they were all wielding wooden staffs of one kind or another.

It was when these men, walking almost casually, reached the front lines that Genis saw the real reason they were there. As one, the monks chanted. They raised their voices until the sound of their deep, resonating chants echoed in the valley. Back and forth the sound went, never ceasing, as if the voices of the monks were pulling out the very essence of nature, binding with it, and ordering it to fight with them.

The battle, during the height of their chants, slowed to an almost stand still. The warriors growled and taunted the monsters opposite them. The demons fearfully huddled amongst themselves. And the monks continued to chant.

All at once, the echoes of chanting stopped. And soon after the demons roared. They though it was all a gimmick. Genis however, along with all the other Norse, knew better. Genis briefly wondered why they couldn't sense the change in the atmosphere. A tingling from his right hand made him look down to inspect it. His Exsphere, the one grown on Marble, was glowing.

Just as the demons launched themselves at the Norsemen, the ground split open. So far open did it split, such a large chasm did the very planet create of its own will, that the demons one and all dropped down into the fiery depths. Just as the last demon fell in, the ground rumbled once more and the chasm zipped itself up. The only evidence that there had been a battle there and that the earth had let loose its fury was a thin line of crushed earth that extended from one end of the closed chasm to the other and blood everywhere.

"Whoa!" Genis was staring with his mouth closed. He pointed at the battle field, tried to form words, and failed to produce more than a few gibberish words and mumbled disbelief. Alfrún smiled knowingly and began untying the leather ropes.

Several hours later, during the great feast that was promised to the men, Genis found himself not munching down on the juicy leg of Deer, but scavenging through the remains of the Demon camp. Alfrún was next to him, following him, though she didn't know what he was looking for.

After searching ever tent he could see, without finding what he was looking for, Genis threw his hands into the air with a shout of frustration. "GAAR!" Genis listened to his voice echoing through out the valley. The only sounds that responded were the sounds of the feast further down the valley and a bunch of night time insects.

"Little master, we must return to the feast." Alfrún put a hand on Genis shoulder. He stood there staring into the distance before he shrugged her off. Alfrún Genis a concerned look, the kind a person give when begging something of someone.

Genis shook his head and started trudging back toward the beginning of the camp where he'd started searching earlier. "No," he said, "I have to find Gaar. We both have to return to our world together. Maybe I missed something back here that would lead to where they took Gaar."

Just as Genis got into digging through the pile of ash that he'd already gone through, a message runner jogged up to Alfrún and whispered something into her ear. Her eyes widened and her hands came up to cover her mouth. Then the messenger ran off, back toward the feast. Alfrún stood stock still, unable to move and barely able to breath.

Genis finished sifting through the ruins of that tent and stood up. He dusted his hands of and moved toward the next tent. He slowed down when he saw Alfrún.

"What's wrong?" Genis slowly moved toward Alfrún, dreading the answer with every step, yet wanting to know more with ever stride he took. "Alfrún, what's wrong?"

Alfrún swallowed loudly and clasped her hands. Then she took a few breaths to calm herself. She looked into Genis' eyes and said, "Little master, the camp is being called back to the homeland immediately. The main force of the demons has moved. They launched an attack on our homes just as we started here."

"Tha-that's horrible!"

"That's not all," said Alfrún. Genis waited patiently for the woman to go on, but she was hesitant to say more. Genis put his hand on his hips and gave the woman a stern look. That seemed to knock some wind back into her and she cleared her throat. "I'm sorry, little master. The demon armies were led by a human with powers greater than that of the demons he commanded. A human child calling himself the Great and Terrible Spanicus Romanus Gaar."

* * *

Didn't see that one coming, did ya? Well... maybe you did. I don't know what you knew. Anyway, Please review, and thanks for reading. 


	5. Day Five

"I do not own the Tales of Symphonia!" – I.K.A. Valian

* * *

Raine's eyes fluttered open and for a second, she swore Genis was standing right next to her. She rubbed her eyes roughly and quickly looked again. To her disappointment though, it wasn't Genis standing there, but Colette.

The blond was biting her lower lip uncertainly and had her arm extended out. When the younger girl saw that her teacher was awake, she broke into a smile.

"Good morning, Professor!"

Raine groaned as she sat up and rubbed her face. "Good morning, Colette," she muttered back. She reached a hand up and straightened her unruly bed-head and then stretched her arms and legs out with a loud yawn.

"Professor, we're going to meet with Governor-General Dorr today."

Raine blinked. "We are?" Colette nodded. "That's nice dear. Could you tell me what time it is?"

"It's still morning, but you must have been really tired because you're usually up earlier than this. Lloyd was up before you."

Raine stretched and yawned again. "I was really tired yesterday. That boat ride took a lot out of me." She shuddered from the memory and had to force a surge of bile back down her throat.

"Well, we're all ready to go, so we'll meet you down stairs." Raine nodded at Colette. The blond chosen left the room as Raine stood up. She picked up her staff and item bag, equipping them in their proper places. Then she turned to leave and stopped mid stride. Curious as to what would stop her, Raine turned around and her eyes were drawn to the bejeweled hammer.

"Oh… I almost forgot you. Better not forget again." Raine picked up the hammer and looked at it closely. A strange expression flickered across her face and her eyes widened in wonder. "You really are a fantastic specimen." That light in her eyes died soon after it was ignited. "If only Genis were here to see you as well." Raine walked to the door and left the room. Downstairs, she met up with the others and they all left the Inn.

On the way to the Governor-General's office, Raine asked about what happened after she went to bed the previous day. Kratos informed her that Lloyd had improved little since their last training session. Lloyd protested that by saying he was still better than he was in Asgard to which Kratos made an unintelligible response.

Colette informed Raine that she'd procured another Palma Potion before it was too late and given it to those travelers from the previous day. Sheena snorted and called Colette a 'Turbo Waitress'. Colette blushed bright red in response to this and said that the head chef had called her that as she left.

Raine was laughing at this as the group came up to the Governor-General's office building. The front steps were well worn marble, obviously well cared for since there was no dirt or anything for that matter to mar their surface. Several large marble pillars shone in the morning sunlight as they held up the front of the roof. Two guards stood in rough and tough armor aside a large intricately carved wooden door.

The two guards reached out and opened the door for the group and closed it behind them once they'd entered. In front of them was a heavy wooden half circle desk. Behind the large arch were four men and a few guards scattered about the room. A little girl stood quietly behind the oldest man in the room, fidgeting left and right.

"Welcome," said the older man. "As per the teachings of Martel, we welcome all travelers and pilgrims to Palmacosta with open arms." He stood with a straight back, probably a left over from military service. His hair was blond and his beard, though rough, was combed and well kept. He wore a purple cloth robe with three sashes around his middle, a symbol of his position as Governor-General. "I am Governor-General Dorr. What, may I ask, can we do for you?"

Lloyd stepped forward and motioned toward Colette. "This here is Colette, the Chosen from Iselia. We're on the journey for world regeneration. We need to get to the Seal of Water and we're wondering if you could help us."

Dorr leaned back slowly, eying the group critically. He glanced over to his right at a much younger man and then to his left at another man close to his own age. They returned the curious and then all of them turned back toward the group that was now the center of attention.

"World regeneration?"

"You've seen the Tower of Salvation, correct?" Dorr nodded patiently at Raine. "Well the situation is as Lloyd says. Colette here is the Chosen of Mana and we would like your help finding the Seal of Water."

"…Are you saying that this girl is the Chosen of Mana? The chosen who will liberate the world and set free the Goddess Martel who sleeps in the center of the world?"

Colette coughed into her hand, then nodded and smiled brightly. "Ah, um, yes. It seems that way, anyway."

"Governor-General Dorr?!" shouted the younger man to Dorr's left. Dorr nodded and crossed his arms.

"The Chosen of Mana was here not but yesterday." Dorr stood up quickly and slammed his fist down on the table. "How dare you defile that venerated name and title! Guards!" A shuffling caused the group to look behind them and find a host of armor clad soldiers filling the hall behind them. Their weapons, polearms, were all pointed toward the group. "Take these despicable criminals who would besmear the good name of the Chosen into custody. After a thorough beating they will be handed over to the Church of Martel for judgment."

"Bu- what are you talking about?!" shouted Lloyd. One of the guards grabbed onto Lloyd's arm and started dragging him backwards. "Hey! Get off me!"

Another guard grabbed Colette from behind. "Ouch, hey, that hurt!"

"Chosen!" Kratos shoved the soldier grabbing him into a wall and dashed for the blond being marched from the room. Then, as providence would have it, Colette tripped and pulled the soldier down with her. Since all the soldiers were very close together in the small room they all somehow managed to be pulled down as well. This resulted in a large pile of bodies falling down like a stack of dominos.

Colette, blushing, immediately stood up. "I'm so sorry," she gushed, "Please forgive me, I'm sorry, please!"

The guard, who Colette was helping up, just stared awestruck at the shimmering crimson wings fluttering behind her. His polearm slipped from his fingers and clattered to the floor. The entire room was silent, staring at Colette. Even Kratos wasn't moving toward Colette anymore, instead he stood smirking with his arms folded over his chest.

"Wow…" exclaimed the little girl in the back of the room. She tugged on Dorr's robe and pointed at Colette. "Father did you see?! Did you see?! She has wings!" The men behind the table, the administrators of the town of Palmacosta, stared on in awe. Colette blushed again and disengaged her wings.

"W… wait!" said the young man to Dorr's left. "Everyone, lower your weapons! This girl before us is without a doubt the Chosen of Mana we've been waiting so long for."

"Yes." Dorr nodded in agreement. He cast his hand out toward the soldiers, pointing toward the door. "Please go back to your duties men. Keep an eye out for those Desian patrols."

The soldiers all turned to Dorr and saluted. Then they started filtering out of the room, though not before each and everyone of them bowed respectfully before Colette. Colette was blushing the entire time, asking everyone to stop bowing, which only made them bow lower. Lloyd was laughing at this until both Raine and Kratos cuffed him in the side of the head.

When everyone was once again settled into their original positions, the younger man on Dorr's left bowed again. "There is no mistaking who you are. Those angel wings make it blindly obvious that you are the Chosen One. Please forgive us."

"Ah, um, please, it's okay," Colette stammered. "It's all right, really. Everyone tells me that I'm not very Chosen-like at all."

"Still," replied the young man. He let his sentence trail off and lowered his head shamefully.

"It's alright, Neil," said Dorr softly. He then faced the group and said, "I apologize for the mix up. I hate admitting this, for it only shames us more, but believing that the group preceding you was the Chosen's group, we gave them the Book of Regeneration. Those imposters must have sold it off by now, as it was a valuable text. Many historians and collectors of ancient items have had their eyes on it for years."

"Wait a minute," said Lloyd. "You said something about those imposters earlier. And what's this Book of Regeneration you're talking about now?"

"The Book of Regeneration is the record of Spiritua's journey of world regeneration," said Neil. "It is the only remaining document containing a detailed record of what happened during that journey and it was a precious heirloom passed down through the generations of Governor-Generals of Palmacosta and the Kings before that."

"Our search for the seals would be greatly aided by the use of that book," said Kratos. He crossed his arms and leveled an accusing stare at Dorr. "And you say that you handed it off to these imposters?" Dorr and Neil nodded reluctantly, pained expressions flitting across their faces.

"… Of course!" Lloyd drew everyone's attention to himself. "I knew something was odd about that group we ran into. Those guys giving us all that trouble must have been the imposters."

"So it would seem," agreed Kratos.

Lloyd turned and asked Dorr, "You don't happen to remember what was written inside of the whatever-it's-called book, do you? Anything you know could help!"

Dorr shook his head. "Sorry, it was written in the language of the angels after all. But I do remember that the cover and a few of the pages were scarred by a fire in the distant past. Sadly, that's all I can remember of it."

"You let a priceless artifact fall to the ravages of the flame?" Raine was bouncing her new hammer up and down threateningly in one hand while glaring at Dorr. The much older man winced and shrank under the silver haired elf's domineering presence.

"Professor, it wasn't his fault." Raine turned her glare onto Lloyd, who also shrank back fearfully. "He said it happened a long time ago," the teen swordsman mumbled almost inaudibly.

"Such discrepancies do not matter in the pursuit of knowledge!" Raine raised her hammer and waved it around menacingly. "Why the Book of Regeneration is one of the most priceless artifacts of history in all of Sylvar-"

"I believe we should withhold our judgment of how badly damaged the book was until we see it for ourselves," said Kratos coolly. "For now, we must focus on finding the collector that the imposters would sell the book to." The mercenary turned to Dorr. "Do you know of anyone who would be most likely to have purchased the book? You said earlier that there were several people who have been keeping an eye on it for a while now."

Dorr nodded. "That is correct. Several people here and in Asgard have been inquiring every year, sometimes more often than that, if they could purchase the book. But perhaps the most insistent was an old man who lives at the peak of the Hakonesia Mountain pass."

"Hakonesia Peak, huh?" Dorr nodded at Lloyd. Determination filled his face as he pumped his fist into the air. "Then that's our goal. Off to Hakonesia peak!"

"Just try to maintain that enthusiasm," said Kratos sarcastically.

* * *

Genis was once again stuck inside of that cart. It bumped and jostled as it rolled along the crudely made road. Genis being the only one inside of the cart found this ride to be far more uncomfortable than the one out to the demon's camp. One difference in particular made it more unbearable, that is, the speed at which the cart driver was forcing the horses to move. Very fast.

The entire army was literally running, and had been running for the last day. Ever since the news about the demon attack on their homeland, the Norsemen had been in a panic. They'd packed up in literally under an hour and then all of them made a mad dash for the coast where their ships were moored. What amazed Genis was the fact that they all ran with their armor and weapons on.

Genis hadn't had any sleep for two days now and was beginning to get antsy. He felt like he was going to fall over dead or his head was going to explode, but either way, he was going out with a bang. Alfrún was no longer there with him. Genis was informed that she was to ride a horse at the front of the retreat to the shore.

It was a cold day out today. Strange mists filled the air and fog filled the sky, blotting out the sun and making all the animals and people uneasy. Genis himself wasn't feeling so good, but he couldn't tell if it was the lack of sleep or the depressing fog. And no matter what he did, he just couldn't clear his head. Ever since learning of who was leading the attack on the Norsemen's home he couldn't get a straight thought to flow through his head.

The sudden stop of the cart threw Genis out of the cart and onto the ground. He pushed himself up with a grunt and looked back at the cart. It was stuck in a giant puddle of mud; one of the wheels was sunk halfway down already. The driver jumped clear and cut the horse free so that it wouldn't be dragged down into the mud with the cart. Once sure that the horse was save and the cart gone, the man turned his horse and rode hard in the direction that the rest of the army was marching.

Genis stared at the retreating forms of the men running past him. He then looked back at the cart. Then back forward. And then back again. With a great sigh, Genis started walking in the same direction as the army.

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Hours later Genis was dead on his feet. There were less men running past him now. Most of the army had already made it to the coast and now only the stragglers were left. Genis, mind blank, was stumbling behind. As one of the last in the long line of travelers, no one noticed Genis fall flat onto his face.

Genis welcomed the end to his torment. No more running, no more moving. Only rest. He listened to the air around him move, rushing past him and blowing his hair about his head. He felt the air and the cool mist moving against his skin as it moved and welcomed it. He heard the silence of nature in the air. And when Genis opened his eyes, he saw one of the largest feet he'd ever seen coming down toward his head.

With a yelp, Genis rolled out of the way just in time to watch the large appendage slam into the ground where his head once rested. Genis followed the leg attached to the enormous foot up into the fog where it disappeared. The thudding of various other footsteps woke Genis up to the fact that he was not alone on the grass.

His head cleared instantly. Genis jumped to his feet and started running down the hill. Ahead he could hear the sounds of battle and behind him he could hear the thunder of an army.

Genis ran, stumbled a few times, and then fell and rolled to a stop. He grunted as he felt a gash open up in his arm, but he pushed the pain to the back of his mind and stood back up. Falling back into a quick pace, Genis plunged into daylight and clear air.

Stumbling to a stop, Genis looked behind him and up at the large wall of fog. Looking forward presented him with an uninterrupted view of the ocean coast, the boats docked there, and the demons and Norsemen fighting each other.

The demons' running past quickly noticed the silver haired elf gawking. Several cries brought the elf's attention to the demon's bearing down on him. Genis launched into action. He snatched up his kendama and started casting a spell. The Mana, tinged red, swirled around Genis like an angry solar flare.

"Eruption!" Genis threw his kendama forward and sent the fire tinted Mana free. The spell's Mana sped along the ground, but then Genis noticed something was wrong with the spell. The Mana slowly sank into the ground and just before it reached the demons, it completely disappeared beneath the surface of the Earth.

"What?!" Genis didn't have time to figure out what happened because the demons that the spell was supposed to stop kept on running toward him. So, he turned and ran toward the shore where the Norse soldiers had managed to push the demons back far enough to man their ships and ready them for shove off.

Just as Genis reached the gravely beaches the ground began to shake. At first it wasn't so bad, but it quickly ramped up to the point where no one could walk without falling over, both demon and Norse alike. The waves lapping on the shore became larger. And behind Genis, the demons' chasing him perked their ears and looked back the way they'd come.

The ground, exactly where Genis had cast his spell, rumbled and roiled like a bowl of shaken water. Then the earth split opened violently, and just like the spell, the innards of the Earth erupted. The glowing red magma poured forth from the new volcano, quickly covering the giants and demons in its path to the sea. Chaos ensued as every living thing cast aside the fight and began fleeing the planet's fury.

"Little Master!" Genis spun around when he heard Alfrún shout his name.

"Alfrún!" The woman stood at the bow of a ship waving worriedly at him while the boat was being shoved away from the shore by frantic Norsemen. Genis sprinted forward and then tripped on a rock jutting out of the beach.

He let out a yelp of surprise when a giant hand wrapped completely around his small body and lifted him up. The giant brought Genis right in front of his face just as an arrow pierced into his head.

Suddenly free, Genis quickly jumped free of the giant's falling form and landed a few feet away. He was slightly surprised by his feat of acrobatics but didn't give it much thought as the lava he'd unleashed crept closer and closer by the second. Genis ran up to the boat Alfrún was on and jumped. A large hand reached out and grabbed a hold of his collar, dragging him up the rest of the way up.

The General in charge of the Norsemen dumped Genis onto the deck of the ship and signaled to his men to cast off. As the ship was roughly pushed away from the shore, Genis stood up and looked back.

The lava had completely covered the shore within the valley, making it glow an angry red. The demons that had escaped the lava on the land drowned in the ocean or were shot by arrows as the boats of the Norsemen passed. The demons in the sky didn't last to long before they were shot down as well. A few of the Norsemen's ships were little more than wrecks, but it appeared that the damage was done during the fighting and not by the new volcano.

"Little Master, I must apologize for leaving you behind."

"No, Alfrún, it's all right. Everyone was in a rush so it's understandable."

"I'm afraid you do not understand, Little Master. I had a reason for returning ahead of the army. It was because my Uncle wished it so."

"Your uncle? I thought you said your whole family was killed by the demons?"

Alfrún fell silent for several moments. She stared absently at the receding shore. Then she said, "No, not entirely. Only my immediate family was killed. My Uncle survived. In fact, he was the one who saved me and Esileif from the demons when my father and brothers were felled. He took us into his house and cared for us until it was decided that our people should strike back at the Demons.

The night that the fleet left, I snuck on board a ship and traveled with the army across the sea. I wanted my chance to avenge my parents and gain back our families honor. But my Uncle quickly found out and had me locked in a room. When we finally reached land, I was confined to the camp, that is, until you showed up. My Uncle didn't want you getting in the way, and I was to look after you and keep you in line. But when the order to retreat was announced, I was brought to the front of the line and told that I'd be one of the first to leave. When I asked about your welfare, no one would give me an answer. So please, forgive me for abandoning you, but it was out of-"

"Hey," Genis interrupted, "it's okay. I'm really not all that important you know." Alfrún was about to respond when one of the sailors came by and grabbed them both by the wrist.

"You two are to stay in your rooms until the voyage is complete," said the gruff man. He roughly hauled the two below decks and then shoved them into a small cramped room with several beds stuffed into it. "This'll be where you're staying. Keep quiet and don't make a ruckus in here. Got it?" Without waiting for an answer, the sailor shut the hatch. Both Genis and Alfrún sighed at the same time.

"How long is the trip back to your home?"

Alfrún looked dismally out of the small porthole and out at the ocean. "Last time, it took fourteen days for us to finally come ashore." Genis wasn't able to hide his dismay at the news. Alfrún noticed this and went on. "But I think that most of that time was spent scouting out the area. At most, I think it should only be six days before we arrive in Sundsvall."

Genis sighed and sat down on one of the cots. "I just hope Gaar's okay. What could have caused him to change his name? Did he remember who he was?"

"Are you sure your friend wasn't with the Demon's already?" Alfrún asked.

"No," Genis shook his head. "Gaar was always a little weird. But he was kind of like Lloyd. He wasn't that smart, but he wanted to do what was right." Genis lay back on the cot and closed his eyes. "What in the world is going on?!"

"I wish I knew the answer to that as well, Little Master," Alfrún said sadly. The small fleet of Norse ships sailed into the Baltic Sea, bearing north.

* * *

Yearg! I live! Granted, it's only been eight days, but still, that's a long time in fanfiction days. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please review, and thanks for reading! 


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